


Surviving

by Zipp0Flare



Series: A Hunter and a Smoker Walk into a Bar [2]
Category: Left 4 Dead (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Hurt a bit more comfort than Infection, I guess I lied not many good times happened, Left 4 Dead OCs, Seriously how do I tag on this site, Still not much though, The survivor side of Infection, Todd is mayor of Swearsville Tennessee, We gettin into some plot now babee, but there's gonna be good times too, rated for language and typical Left 4 Dead violence, sad times ahoy, will add tags as I go along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23184100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zipp0Flare/pseuds/Zipp0Flare
Summary: Todd wasn't a fan of his life, crap job, crap home, crap everything. So when the zombie apocalypse starts up he takes it as a reason and way to reinvent himself instead. The farther along he goes, though, the more he's beginning to think he bit off more than he could chew.Also, what's with this random kid who refuses to leave his side and wants to drag him everywhere?
Series: A Hunter and a Smoker Walk into a Bar [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666543
Comments: 15
Kudos: 5





	1. All Work and No Pay

**Author's Note:**

> Part two of 'A Hunter and a Smoker Walk into a Bar', this time we're seeing our survivor's side of things. The infected family aren't going to be staying gone for too long, though.

Todd Ward was a guy with a few too many problems for his own liking. Sure, he could talk the talk, walk the walk, and do a pretty damn good job of 'hanging with the boys'. Some days, though... some days he just wanted to say 'to hell with it' and leave everything behind. Dead-end job with shit pay was something he was tired of, but it was hard for someone like him to move up in the world and get greeted with both a shiny new paycheck and no assholes who wouldn't nitpick and say shit to cause provocation. 

He wasn't some guy with a criminal past (though there were some days where he just wanted to screw some shit up and call it a day), but there were some things that people just couldn't wrap their head around, not when the town had known him for so long as someone else at least. Things came to a head after yet another douchebag made an offhand comment that finally set him off, and Todd found himself facing his manager in the store's office, a look of shame on his own face while his manager stared on stone faced. "We can't have you causing scenes like that, here. You're a hard worker, but you can't seem to be flexible with the people who come here day to day and give you a job to do." Mr. Harris said with a voice that sounded like he gargled gravel as a part of his morning routine. 

"You heard what shit they were sayin', though-" 

"And that's another thing, you have a problem with curbing your language." Harris continued, not caring about interrupting his subordinate. "We can't keep having you do things like this. you're fired." Todd was stunned speechless, having not expected for things to take a turn like that (then again, looking back, what other way did he see this thing going?) "Mr. Harris, you can't be serious."

"Like a heart attack, Ward. You're fired effective immediately. I don't beat around the bush when it comes to my business. Now, hand over your name tag and keys." Mr. Harris held out his meaty hand for the requested objects and was unsurprised when they were roughly slapped into his palm. "You have a good one, Ward."

"Eat my ass.." Todd muttered as he stalked out of the office and into the store. He didn't bother speaking with any of the regulars or his now ex-co-workers, merely continuing out from behind the counter and out of the store's automatic doors. He continued on in silence until he reached his beat-up Toyota that he finally let a slew of curse words fly from his mouth and express his extreme distaste toward everything happening. 

"Have a good one, Ward. Like a heart attack, Ward. You're gettin' fired today, Ward, can't have people like you around my goddamn store." He slammed on the steering wheel after pulling out of the parking lot and onto the road, wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of dodge and away from his last option for work. "If you got off your fat ass for once and took a look around your damn store, you'd see that there's a lot worse people than me handlin' your money. So what if I have a bad mouth? That bastard had it comin'..." He continued to mutter under his breath as he tuned his radio to see if he could pick up anything but static. To hell with this old car that functioned just well enough to pass as a mode of transportation. 

Just when he was about to give up on the channel swapping and just drive in silence, a news broadcast cut through the static, just barely able to be heard. - **e sure to avoid any contact with infected individuals. If you are infected, board up windows and doors and stay inside. Evacuation sites can be foun-** Todd slapped the power button for the radio off, already tired of hearing about the newest outbreak, the Green Flu. It had been three weeks since it originated in Pennsylvania and was slowly inching further and further east, but he knew that what CEDA was spewing wasn't something he was buying. 

If they had it 'all under control' that 'there was nothing to worry about', then why were they advising such insane actions? What even warranted such a reaction? And wouldn't having it under control mean that it wouldn't be continuing to spread over such a small period of time? "Friggin' dumbasses, the lot of them..."

He pulled into the parking lot of his not-so-nicely built apartment building and proceeded inside. Having lost his job he wasn't too sure how much longer it would stay his little piece of shit heaven as he tended to call it. "Best get a good night's sleep while I still can."


	2. Not so Home Sweet Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for depictions of violence, typical Left 4 Dead stuff, and language. 
> 
> Finally got this guy out! Almost three times longer than the first chapter and took a bit of forethought over the weekend before I managed to get it out, but I'm happy with it. Things are starting to pick up a bit more!

4:37 AM. It was 4:37 AM when the sound of a shrill scream jolted Todd out of sleep and he couldn't help but look longingly at the hours of sleep that could have been but never would be. "I don't recall settin' my alarm for the ass crack'a dawn with the sound of a crazed banshee for the tone..." He muttered as he got out of bed when it was clear that the screaming wouldn't stop anytime soon. With a feeling that someone was already calling 911 about the issue, he instead decided he would take it upon himself to see what the big issue was and how he could get his neighbor to quiet down.

Todd was halfway out his apartment door, ready to hunt down just which of his neighbors was currently flexing their lung capacity, when it occurred to him that he may need a bit of self defense in case whoever was now shrieking even louder may have actually been in trouble. He took a few extra moments to traverse to his bathroom to pick up a pipe that had been deemed 'not necessary' after it had fallen out from under his sink (personal piece of shit heaven). Giving it an experimental swing it was found to be up to par with being a self defense weapon and Todd now jogged out of his apartment room and into the hallway to find the source of the screaming, which had silenced during his weapon grab. "Great, I go to get things taken care of and right when I'm about to find out what the shit's goin' on, they quiet down..."

Just as he was thinking he should just count his blessings and just go back to sleep, a large commotion seemed to come from the apartment four doors down from where he stood. A few bangs and the sounds of a scuffle were the only warnings before the flimsy door was broken down and a woman came sprawling out of the crudely made opening, followed by a man who looked to be far from great health. "Hey! I get marital disputes, but you should calm your shit down, guy!" Todd called down to the couple, both of whom didn't seem to register his existence; the woman didn't even seem to be conscious anymore.

"Buddy! Some people like to sleep during this time, you should really work out the issues you're havin' a different way." Todd tried again, this time gaining the man's attention, though this was a turnout he was quickly regretting when he saw something... unstable in the man's eyes. The sound that left the now obviously sick man's mouth didn't even sound human, instead this squealing shriek that was a sign of ruined vocal cords and made Todd question how the guy was able to be up and running, especially running in Todd's direction. 

"Sir! Guy! Mister Runny Face! If you don't back the hell up, I will lodge your nasal cavity into your skull with my pipe!" He warned as he readied his makeshift weapon, suddenly quite glad that he had the forethought to grab something from his ramshackle apartment for defense. The man didn't seem to acknowledge Todd's warnings as he continued to run full speed toward his new target and, as stated, Todd pulled back his hand and slammed the curved end of the pipe into the man's face. There wasn't too much force behind it, having been afraid of possibly braining the man and getting blamed from the murder, but there was a solid crunch and his would-be attacker found himself unconscious on the floor instead. 

"Didn't believe me, did'ya?" He asked the out cold body, nudging him with his foot, before making his way over to the woman to check her over as well. As assumed, the woman was fully unconscious and didn't seem like she'd be waking up soon. Todd couldn't help but notice that she also seemed to share a similar pallor to the man that had just been knocked out, a sign of a possible sickness shared between the two. "Beautiful... it's come here now. That's just swell.." He muttered as he put two and two together. Sure, the Green Flu seemed to have been making it's way east and, by default, Todd's own direction, but it still wasn't something he was wanting to see.

He turned away from the woman to look into the, now door-less, apartment, only to greatly wish he hadn't. Apparently the woman hadn't been the crazed, sick male's first victim, as inside laid a teenage girl who was surrounded by way too much blood to still be alive. In a panic Todd ran into the room and, as assumed, she didn't look to be breathing. "Shit... oh shit, oh shit..." Knowing that it wouldn't be good to be found inside this apartment turned crime scene, whilst holding a bloody pipe, no less, he quickly jumped back out the hole in the door and ran back to his own apartment to grab his cellphone, leaving his apartment door open in case someone else came out to see what was going on. Sure, someone may have already called 911 earlier, but this dead body along with two sick people was a turn out that no one else currently knew about.

With it being so early in the morning, he expected for the phone to ring a couple times and then get picked up, but after the other end of the line rang without anyone picking up, that's when he knew something was seriously wrong. "Okay... police aren't answerin'... not a stellar sign... Maybe give CEDA a call? Doubt they'd give two shits, but better than nothin'..." A quick Google search provided him with the number for the Civil Emergency and Defense Agency, which he then quickly dialed in hopes of getting some sort of response. 

**"You've reached the line for the Civil Emergency and Defense Agency. If you or a loved one are currently experiencing difficulties from the Green Flu, please follow emergency procedures. If you wish to give information on infected individuals, please press 1. If-"** Todd didn't wait for the rest of the prompts and pressed the required button on his phone, letting out a groan of frustration when another automated line continued. **"Thank you for calling the Civil Emergency and Defense Agency. We are currently busy with pre-existing cases, but a representative should be able to speak with you shortly. Please stay on the line."**

"God dammit, come on! We've got a damn body here!" He exclaimed to no one, but stood and waited nonetheless. With his back turned toward his apartment door, he didn't see the woman from earlier stumble from the hallway and into his own apartment until she let out the same, shrill screech that the man (husband? boyfriend? baby daddy?) had made earlier. Todd turned around just in time to see her lunging for him, arms outstretched and badly taken care of teeth bared to bite down on flesh, and raised his pipe to crack her in the side of the head, dropping his phone in the process. She fell to the ground, limp, but it wasn't long before she was getting back up and starting toward him once more. "Dammit, lady! I'm gonna kill you if this keeps up!" He exclaimed as he backed up and accidentally stepped on his phone, cracking the screen. "Fuck!" Todd jumped out of the way when she leapt at him once more and brought his pipe down on her skull once more.

There was a sickening crunch as metal split bone, causing grey matter to spatter out of the hole that had been caused. At least she wasn't going to be getting up again. "Fuckin'... God! Why's it gotta be me?!" With reassurance that he wouldn't be attacked again Todd picked up his phone, only to see that his call to CEDA had ended when he stepped on the device and it didn't appear like it would be working again anytime soon. "Cheap piece'a shit..." He had a decision to make; go to any neighbor's doors to see if he could use their phone or have them call for help, wait around and see if the police would actually show up, or get the hell out of dodge before he got blamed for more than he actually did. 

Groaning that came from outside his door and in the hallway seemed to answer his question for him, and Todd turned to see the rabid man from earlier stalking into his open door (why the hell did he think that had been a good decision in the first place?). The appearance of his now dead (wife? girlfriend? baby momma?) didn't seem to phase the man, as all of his attention was focused on Todd. Even his still bleeding nose wasn't causing him any sort of pain. "God dammit.. I can see it now; triple homicide at shit palace, local man accused of murder, old boss says 'I knew he was a shitstain of trouble.'" He muttered as he readied himself to bring this man down like the rabid animal he seemed to be. Thankfully he had just as much finesse as the woman and seemed to come at him with no regards to the weapon Todd was holding, allowing him to swipe the man's feet out from under him with the elbow end of the pipe, followed by a solid smack to the head that definitely shattered the skull. 

The groaning that had been so prominent in the room quickly died out with the man and Todd was now left with, not one, but two bodies, an even bloodier than before pipe, and clothes that certainly weren't going to be coming clean anytime soon. This sickness seemed to turn people rabid and mindless, something that Todd didn't want to stick around and witness (at least, not in places that any further deaths could be pinned to him.), so it was with an act of self preservation that he changed into a different set of clothes and gathering what little perishables he had to place into an old backpack that was a few years too old to really serve much of a purpose anymore. Not knowing if the illness was airborne or not, he grabbed up the closest thing he had to keep his mouth covered; a bandanna mask with a skull face print. Call him extra, he doesn't mind. 

"I knew I was going to say good bye to this place soon, but I didn't think it'd be less than twelve hours after I got home..." He muttered as he took one last look around the apartment before he left, shutting that door to his life behind him.


	3. To Live or Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should just say at this point that any chapter in this story will have strong language and violence. Todd has a filthy mouth and this is Left 4 Dead after all.

As Todd descended the stairs of his apartment complex building and proceeded to the front end of the first floor, he began to realize that his neighbors four doors down weren't the only ones that seemed to be infected zombies, and that things were only going to get worse from there. Stepping out of the door that lead from the stairs into the hallway, he was met with four very sick looking people mindlessly meandering around. Once he stepped foot into that hallway, all attention was turned toward him and he was suddenly swarmed by the four people who seemed to only have one goal in mind; tear him apart or die trying. "Oh shit, not again..." He was hoping to be able to be twice and done with the previous two infected individuals whose corpses now lay bleeding in his apartment, but it seemed like life was still giving him the middle finger. 

He pulled his hand back and slammed the first one in the jaw with his pipe, effectively shattering their jawbone and sending them sprawling onto the floor, then followed up with a swipe to the side of the head of another oncoming attacker. The other two he had to duck past to avoid getting grabbed and in turn smacked them both in the back of the head in one fell, powerful swoop, effectively ending their attack and life. The first two he had struck were still moving, though, and were starting to get back to their feet. He pinned the first one down by stepping on their chest, earning several attempted scratches to his legs in the process. It didn't move for much longer before he brought his pipe down on their head with a powerful swing, sending grey matter, blood, and bits of skull all over the old, stained carpet. During his distraction, the second infected grabbed onto his backpack, but didn't have a firm enough hold as Todd was able to shake them off by roughly jerking backward then forward once more. The infected stumbled into the wall and was met with a swing of the pipe that smashed their head between metal and wall, leaving not much remaining behind. 

"Jesus Christ this is insane! How many more of these are there?! And how did it get this bad this quickly?!" He exclaimed once he was able to take a breather and see the amount of carnage he had managed to accomplish with just a pipe (god, thank you shit piece of heaven) and his surroundings. He was now even more frustrated with the loss of his phone, since he now couldn't check up on what was going on with the sickness; then again, it wasn't like CEDA was telling the truth about all of this anyway. "I mean zombies? Really? They couldn't have at least mentioned, 'Oh hey, by the way, if you get infected you will turn into a rabid crazy person and try to eat everyone you see, kay thanks.' Though, if I don't have my phone... maybe..." He looked toward the bodies again and wondered just how low he was willing to sink. 

"Fuck it, it's not like they'll be using it anyway." He said, before beginning to root through the pockets of infected closest to him; a middle-aged man who already seemed to be experiencing balding and had a severe case of nasty teeth syndrome. There was no luck finding a phone on him, though there was a wallet being carried in his left hand pocket. Todd hesitated for a few more moments, again wondering just how low he was willing to sink, before his earlier answer came to his mind again and he pocketed the $42 he found in the wallet while leaving behind the credit cards. Cash would be safer to use than someone's stolen credit cards, even if the person was dead and wasn't able to file a report, it still wasn't a risk Todd was willing to take. 

He turned to the next person, the last infected that he had killed. Due to the state of their head he wasn't able to determine their gender from that, but the rather busty chest was answer enough to the person originally being female. Her front pockets yielded nothing, however after he turned her around there was a rather nice looking phone residing in her back pocket. Todd let out a sound of approval when he saw that it had a 80% charge and pocketed it in one of the side pockets of his cargo pants. His old backpack chose that moment to show just how worn out it was when the bottom of it ripped and dropped its contents on the floor. "God dammit! Every time! Every time things start lookin' up for me, somethin' up above decides to tell me to go fuck myself and shits all over me!" He was thankful that none of the things he had stored away were easily breakable, though a few of the cans had dented somewhat during the fall. 

He had been planning on leaving the other bodies be, but with this turnaround Todd decided that it wouldn't hurt to search them over to see if he could find any extra cash, and a back-up phone in case the smartphone he nabbed from the dead woman happened to run out of battery a little too soon for his liking. He was thankful that the other two were both males, as that gave a higher chance of a wallet being carried, and indeed found an extra $134 to add to his already nabbed $42, as well as a second smart phone, though this one was only at a measly 27% charge. He shoved the cash into his own wallet and the second phone next to the first one, then turned around to gather up the cans that had fallen out of his backpack, making mobility rather difficult at this point. He prayed that there were no more infected between his current location and his truck, otherwise he'd find himself with quite the issue defending himself. 

His prayers were answered when there were no more infected, or even regular people for that matter, on his way to his truck and he loaded himself into the cab of his truck with minimal effort, dropping the ruined backpack and the cans into his passenger seat. Gas and a new backpack were at the top of the list for him to get; gas to keep his truck going for as long as the thing could hold out for, and a backpack to carry his things in case he had to continue forward on foot. Luckily, his old job was a supermarket with a companion gas station and was only a few miles down the road, however Todd wasn't looking forward to showing his face in there again so soon after what had happened yesterday. Beggars couldn't be choosers, though, since his truck was near empty and he wasn't sure what state places were in at this point. Hell, even his job may have been overrun with how quickly the Green Flu had seemed to spread, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

His truck wasn't picking up anything but static at this point, and even the channel he had found earlier yesterday wasn't spewing CEDA's typical 'advice'. The trip wasn't a long one though, and it was only minutes before he found himself parked in the parking lot of his old job. Now that Todd took a look at himself, though, with blood spatters here and there (and was that a bit of brain?), he wasn't sure he could walk right in without immediately having the cops called on him. The skull face mask also wouldn't help, so he pulled it down from his face to lessen the creep factor. To add insult to injury, he recognized the shiny new, silver car parked only a few spaces away from him was the one that his manager owned. "Great... he's in here as well..." Taking a chance that maybe life wouldn't spit on him for the first time this morning, Todd hopped out of his truck, locking it behind him, and proceeded into the store. 

Already he could tell that something was off; the usual hustle and bustle of the store was nonexistent, despite the dozen or so cars that were parked outside. There was also a very strong scent of copper in the air. Immediately Todd was wondering if this was a good thing or a bad thing; good, because if the only people in here were infected, he wouldn't have judgmental eyes on him and people threatening to call the police. Bad, because if the only people in here were infected, this was another hazard zone and he was currently without any sort of defense. With no idea if the Green Flu was an airborne transmission or not, he pulled his face mask back over his mouth and nose and proceeded forward with caution. Just passing one aisle, he already found a dead, bloodied body, and recognized it as the man who had insulted him the day before. "Serves ya right, bastard..." He muttered before realizing how crude he sounded. Sure, the guy was a dick, but that didn't mean he deserved to have his jugular ripped out by, what Todd was assuming, a pair of teeth. 

"Shit.. this shit's gettin' me all messed up in the head right now..." He shook his head, best not to dwell on it, and continued forward toward his original goal. The more aisle he passed, the more carnage he saw. It was one thing to cause it in self defense with a pipe, it was another to see damaged caused by bite marks and scratches, almost like a wild animal had been inside the store and raided the place. Then again, the infected seemed to be nothing more than wild animals at this point. So far, though, Todd had only found bodies, but not a single infected. Either whatever had attacked had fled the store after they had run out of bodies, or it was just one or two and they were still inside the store, hidden away. Todd wasn't too fond of finding out what the answer was and instead nabbed a backpack from the camping section and began to run toward the store's entrance. With all this shit going on, and no sign of anyone living, he didn't see a point in paying for the thing. "Finder's keepers, bitch." He snickered, getting a thrill out of the feeling of snatching something from his workplace that had done nothing but treat him like crap. 

Like a bad nightmare though, it was when he left the camping aisle that he ran smack into his old manager, along with what had caused all of the carnage in the store. Mr. Harris didn't look anything like his usual prim and proper self. Instead, his nice, white dress shirt was stained red and torn open, buttons missing from the shirt; his tie was in a similar state of disarray, hanging loosely around his neck; his black pants were a little harder to make out anything wrong with them, though there were dark stains here and there, more blood from victims. The biggest difference was his face, though, covered in blood, wild eyes, and his usually bronzed skin a horrible pale color. With a snarl the infected Mr. Harris lunged for Todd and Todd had to use everything he had learned within the last hour to be able to get out of the way of the attack, lest he end up like the other poor schmucks inside of the store.

The vision Todd had always had of his old boss was now his actual appearance, and he couldn't help but feel gleeful that this had happened to the bastard, or horrified that everything he had thought of had come true and now the man was coming to literally murder his ass and eat him alive. "I get that you didn't like me, but Jesus Christ this is going a little far!" he exclaimed behind him when he realized that Harris was hot on his heels, not wanting to let a healthy person get away alive. Despite the man being rather heavyset, that didn't seem to slow him down at all and Todd knew he wouldn't be able to run forever, or at least make it out to his truck without getting caught beforehand. With flight being out of the question and fight being the only option at this point, he took a sudden turn into the hardware aisle, nearly slipping on the floor from such a sudden change with barely slowing down his momentum, and made his way for whatever tool could do the most damage. 

Mr. Harris didn't have the same finesse as Todd and ran right into the first display inside the aisle, giving Todd enough time to find a nasty looking crowbar that would be able to do a good amount of damage. Todd had never had any previous thoughts of murdering his boss, but at this moment he couldn't help but be quite happy that he'd finally get his payback toward the bastard. With his chosen weapon in hand and his stolen backpack by his feet, Todd stood his ground and waited for Harris to get his footing and come after him once more; he didn't have to wait long. Mr. Harris was only a few feet away from him when Todd swung the curve side of crowbar up and to the left, nailing his former employer under the chin and pulling the man's jaw from his skull. A sickening, gurgling noise left the now jawless man's throat as he stumbled back from the hit, but before he could run at his old employee again Todd swung the crowbar once more and into Mr. Harris' head, knocking him down to the floor and effectively killing him. 

"That's right, bastard! Now who's superior? Me, bitch!" Todd yelled at the corpse, feeling a sense of closure come across him. As he started to come down from his high, he began to think over what just happened. He should be feeling remorse or guilt; this was someone who had been a large part of his life. There was none of that though and he couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with him, or if the 'it's him or me' mentality of surviving just desensitized him toward the last few minutes' events. Had he not acted and killed Harris, Todd would have been just another body in the store bloodying up the floor. He was beginning to think that this would be a new way to take hold of things in the world, to prove that he wouldn't let himself be eaten alive by life, but with reality staring him in the face with now glassy, lifeless eyes, he couldn't help but wonder; what the hell was he supposed to do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, this isn't me self projecting, since I've loved all of my previous employers. I just feel like this was bound to be a thing.


	4. A River of Knowledge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That chapter pun was painful to make, but it was too good to pass up, if I'm being completely honest. This is mostly an info-dump about the special infected, since I'm not going to let all of these idiots walk into this blind. There is some snark thrown in here and there from Todd, as well as a lead-up to how he finds this out. So I still find it rather worth reading, and I'm rather proud of how the information was introduced, to be honest.

Having previously worked for a few years at the store allowed Todd to know the locations of the cameras that were nestled here and there throughout the building. That also meant he knew where the blind spots were as well. Unfortunately, camping was one of those locations, leading to his snatching of the backpack being easily noticed. However, the location in hardware where he had nailed his old boss with a crowbar happened to be one of the few blind spots, a sign that life might have been finished with pissing on him for the day.

Not very many of the bodies were out of sight of the cameras, letting anyone who may or may not review the tapes be able to see just who was behind the bloody murders, but the few that were were the ones that Todd looted the pockets of. Sure, he had stooped pretty low at this point, but he didn't want to be caught on camera raiding Karen's $2,000 purse for the five cents that she may or may not be carrying. Not like he could sell the purse for it's stupidly over inflated price anyway with all of the shit that was currently going down.

Now that the adrenaline was finally starting to settle out of his system, guilt over his past actions were starting to set in, no matter how much the 'kill or be killed' mentality was buzzing around in his head. The residents of his apartment were easier to take down; Todd wasn't a person who socialized much with those of his building, so the infected that he came across were people he hadn't even met before. Mr. Harris was someone he knew though. The guy may have been an asshole and always stuck to 'the customer is always right' thought process (no they weren't, most aren't, most are just douchebags who whine to get what they want) and had fired him but kept people who were doing worse, but the guy was the man who gave him a job in the first place, who gave shitty attempted uplifting group meetings, who had a _family_. This was on a personal level that Todd didn't want to think about.

Sure, at the beginning he had felt glee to finally put this guy in his place, but now Todd just felt... empty. And that empty feeling followed him through the store as he looted pockets in blind spots and picked up a few things off of the shelves that he hadn't been able to pack when he fled his apartment, feeling safe to do so when it turned out Mr. Harris had been the only infected in the building. That feeling is what led him to place some money down on the counter before he left, despite the fact that no one would collect it and put it into the till, and it would most likely be snatched by the next person who may happen to wander into the store later on. 

He had been about to walk out when he noticed a couple Twix bars sitting in the checkout lane and he placed a couple more dollar bills on the counter after snatching them up; the apocalypse was upon them, might as well self indulge a little. With candy in hand, several bottles of water tucked away in his backpack along with a few more non-perishables, and a couple empty gas cans in hand, Todd walked out of the building and back over to his truck. Once in the cab he filled the new backpack up with the cans that had fallen out of the older bag as well as what little remained inside the zipper pockets then headed for the gas station.

This one he didn't bother with paying for, merely selecting 'Pay inside' and filling up his truck first and the two gas cans afterward; the faster he got out of here, the better. He pulled out of the lot for the gas station and began driving the opposite direction he came from, not really having a goal at this point. Right now, all he knew was that he wanted to get as far away from this place as he could. It was dumb to believe that he could take advantage of this whole thing, make the world his bitch. That kind of mentality would only end with him winding up as another dead body somewhere. It was only after several minutes and several miles had passed and he couldn't see the town in his rear-view mirror that he pulled over onto the side of the road to look over the phones he had gathered. He had left the apartment complex with only two, however during his body search at the store he had found three more. Sure, he looked like a hoarder, and there was no point in calling anyone, but he wanted to be able to use a phone without charging it, because who knows when he'd be able to pull that off.

The first phone Todd tried was the one he had pulled off of the man at the apartment; best to start with the ones with less charge and work his way up the ranks. When he went to use it, though, he was met with a lock screen. "Sonova! Dammit, I should have known that I was gettin' too lucky back there..." He muttered as he tossed it into the back of the truck. Like hell he was going to try and guess what combination of four numbers, or more even, the man had used to deter theft. "One down, four to go, I guess..." He pulled out the next one, an old Blackberry phone that was covered in quite a bit of blood. He had wiped a large portion of it off when he pulled it from a dead woman's front pocket in the store, however it was still stained red from however long it had been soaking. He let out a whoop when he was able to access the phone easily and was even happier when he saw that he was connected to cellular data at the moment. 

Todd's happiness died down quickly, though, when he realized just how slowly web pages were loading on the device and how much of a strain it was already putting on the abysmal battery charge. When a Google page finally pulled up it had already gone down 5%, so he would have to make this quick. He decided to search for information on the Green Flu, ignoring anything CEDA related since all they seemed to spew was high class bullshit. Instead, he focused on the more crazy information, things related to zombies and people going rabid. What he had earlier found to be ridiculous was now his reliant source of information to survive. He had just found an article from someone when the screen went black; the battery had died already. This phone he didn't just toss into the back of the truck, but threw it hard enough for it to bounce off of the rear-view window with a loud 'thump' before lading somewhere on the floor of the vehicle. 

The third phone he pulled from his stash looked to be the newest one; a shiny iPhone, seeming to have come fresh out of the case. The 53% battery life spoke otherwise, though, unless it had an even worse battery life than the earlier Blackberry phone. This was another one he had snagged off of someone in the store, and the person was dumb enough with their nice phone that they didn't even think to program a lock onto it. Todd was able to connect to cellular data with this one as well and, thankfully, it was a lot faster than the Blackberry was. Within just a couple minutes he was back on the same site he had found on the Blackberry and began to scan through the information on it. 

_"Despite what CEDA is telling the people, the Green Flu is anything but your normal flu. I've seen quite a bit of things during my time here in New York City, but this is the wildest so far, and most dangerous as well. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to survive this, so I'm leaving this for people to find in case it may help them survive longer and, hopefully make it out of this outbreak alive._

_"As I said, the Green Flu is not a flu, I'm not even sure what it is. But I know for a fact that the flu doesn't turn the living, infected individuals into essentially the walking dead. You can hurt them, but they don't react to pain as a normal human would. You can knock their legs off, and they'll still come crawling after you. The most you can do is put a bullet in their head, or fill them with enough lead that would kill any ordinary human, and put them out of their misery. Most of the infected that I've encountered look like normal people, but there are a few exceptions, which I've heard some call 'special infected', and special they are indeed._

_"The first one I encountered, I thought was just a jogger or someone that had turned during their normal routine, bundled up in a hoodie and, for some reason, duct tape. That all changed when I saw them leap several meters into the air, something I've never seen anyone do, and let out a horrible shriek. I wasn't attacked by it, but I've bared witness to those who have; they land on you, pinning you to the ground, and immediately tear into you with clawed fingers. If you get to the pinned person fast enough, they can be saved, but need a large amount of bandaging up to survive the damage done to them. Most people will bleed out quite quickly from the damages, though."_

"Shit. I didn't grab any first aid. Probably should have thought of that. I know where I need to stop next then." Todd said as he mentally went over his supplies after reading that last bit of information. "Don't know why I didn't think first aid, in a zombie apocalypse of all goddamn things, would be essential..." He shook his head, reminding himself to dwell on his stupidity later, before continuing to read.

_"These hoodie wearing freaks, because all of them I've seen so far seem to be wearing some kind of hoodie, us survivors have come to call 'Hunters', because that's exact what they do. They hunt. You. Down. The second special infected I came across was one that found me first. I had been making my way down the sidewalk to find shelter when I heard coughing and then a loud scream, before I was grabbed by what I had, at the time, considered to be a tentacle of some sort. It wasn't until after this ordeal that I learned it was a tongue. Like a sniper, this thing had grabbed me from the shadows and, if it weren't for my buddy, It would have most likely crushed me until I ran out of air and suffocated. I miss you Johnny, I hope wherever you're resting is better than here._

_"He cut of the tentacle with his trusty fire axe and freed me, but that wasn't enough. We had to hunt the thing down before it grabbed one of us again, or someone else, even. We both ran into the alley and found a large amount of lingering smoke that seemed to form a trail for us to follow. And follow it we did, until we reached the end of the alleyway and saw a tall man covered in tumorous growths that caused him to lean to his left, with a tongue hanging out of his mouth that reached down to his knees. I figured that's what it grabbed me with when it shot out to an even longer length toward Johnny but, before it could grab him, I shot it square in the head and it collapsed with a large puff of smoke. I'm guessing it's based off of this fact, as well as the coughing it always seems to make, that it was deemed as a Smoker."_

"Hah! I knew that shit was bad for you! Too bad, Carol, your smokin' habit's gonna turn you into a giant tumor that licks things for a livin'!" Todd laughed, trying to keep his head up with morbid humor.

_"The third was a big problem, and I mean BIG. Johnny, my girlfriend Trisha and I were leaving our newest hideout when we felt the ground begin to shake. Earthquakes weren't too common in the area we were in, so we doubted it was that. It wasn't until a car went soaring into the air, flying over the two story house we had stayed in the previous night, that we knew we were in big trouble. Coming from the same direction the car had flown from was a large, hulking beast of an infected. Its upper half was inflated with muscle, so much that its head was sinking into the solid mass. Its legs, however, didn't seem to have the same treatment and merely dangled in the air as it ran at us, full speed, on its knuckles. Bullets didn't seem to do a damned thing to it, and like hell we were getting close enough to it to smack it with something sharp. One hit from this thing, and I knew it would be lights out for us. So we ran. We ran, and ran, and ran, but it followed us, gaining on us._

_"Trisha pulled out a bottle of cheap liquor she had found the night before, something we were saving to celebrate with, as well as some gauze and a lighter from her pocket, sticking the gauze into the bottle and setting the upper part on fire with the lighter. She had enough time to throw it and I watched as it arked in the air and landed on the muscled monstrosity, setting it ablaze. This seemed to slow the thing down, so we went to work on shooting it as we continued to run, until it finally dropped to the ground dead. We learned that day that those things were called Tanks for a reason."_

"So, if the ground shakes, run like hell. Noted."

_"The fourth special infected we ran into was a problem and a half. We didn't even see it coming at first until we were doused in something absolutely foul smelling that blurred our vision and caused any of the infected we were trying to sneak past to suddenly flood around us like an unending tidal wave. I may have found the stuff absolutely disgusting, but those infected absolutely loved it. When we cleared them out, just by the skin of our teeth no less, and managed to wipe the stuff from our eyes, I saw an absolutey bloated infected toddling away from us, seeming almost too big to really move all that well. A single shot pierced the thing and caused it to pop in an explosion of viscera and bile, soaking the area around it and leaving just a rotund lower half left. Boomer was a suitable name for it. They seem to hide in waiting, and it's the bile that they vomit that causes infected to go nuts and swarm whatever the bile landed on. CEDA seems to have taken the idea and bottled the stuff up, the only good thing they've seemed to have done so far. If you find a jar with a bio-hazard sign on it with green liquid inside, save it. That shit may be vile, but if you find yourself in a tight spot you can throw it on a hoard of infected and they'll absolutely turn on each other."_

"Ugh, gross... now I have to worry about the annoyin' shits throwin' up on me? God that sucks ass.." 

_"The fifth one I came across I've only seen a few other times, and I'm happy for it. It's a walking masturbation joke if I'm being completely honest, but the thing itself is no joke."_ Despite those words, Todd found himself snickering like a five-year-old. _"The most warning you get is a loud noise, almost sounding like a cow, if I'm completely honest, before you feel like you've been hit by a truck. I know I've gotten a few broken ribs from when that thing plowed into me a week back. If it wasn't for Johnny saving my ass once more, that thing would have pummeled me to death. When he whacked it to death with his fire axe, I managed to get a good look at the thing. Their faces look all beat to hell, most likely from running into things from missing their charge, and hitting a wall or something at top speed. One of their arms is greatly enlarged, which they use as a battering ram, while the other side of their body is greatly shriveled up. The reason why they don't just topple over is because their foot on the opposite side of the giant arm is greatly enlarged as well to counterbalance them. It is due to their battering ram capabilities that they are deemed as 'Chargers'."_

"He's right, that thing sounds like the perfect masturbation joke." Todd agreed, this time finding it not as funny as he had been due to reading about just what they were capable of. "Just how many of these fuckers are there, though?" He questioned, since there still seemed to be a bit of scrolling left of the article that mostly centered around these so-called 'special infected'.

_"There are only a few more that we've run into, and hopefully they're the last ones. The sixth and seventh that we encountered actually came around at the same time, and the way they function it's almost as a sort of double team. The first I saw of the two made me question just what I was seeing. It was a woman that was lit up green like a glow stick, trying to waddle around due to her over sized gut that was glowing even more than the rest of her. her neck was extremely elongated, and she didn't seem to be wearing much; just a bra, a pair of capris, and I'm relatively sure I saw a pink thong as well. It wasn't until she turned around that I saw the true horror. The lower half of her face seemed to be completely melted away, and the upper half of her face had severe damage to it as well, most likely from the green goo that was draining out of what remained of her esophagus and onto the ground._

_"When she caught sight of me and my fellow mates, there was a loud squealing coming from that gaping maw, followed by, what was basically a giant loogie being spat right at us. We didn't think much of it until it landed on the ground and spread out, sizzling on the ground as it did so. It was then that I realized that she just spat acid at us, and I was just barely able to pull Johnny and Trisha out of the way. It was because of this distraction that I didn't hear the manic giggling coming from behind us until something landed on my shoulders, wrapping it's legs around my neck and covering my eyes with its scrawny, bloodied fingers. This thing, whatever it was, continued to giggle as it leaned its body forward, causing me to follow it's direction to avoid tripping and falling on my face, all the while I scrambled to try to get it off of me. Trisha managed to shove it off of my head just before I stepped into the pile of acid, and I looked to see a balding, hunched over gremlin of a man trying to straighten itself out after the rough shove._

_"I kicked it before it could get its bearings, apparently hard enough to kill it it seemed, and watched as Johnny shot the woman and she, much like the Smoker, collapsed in a heap. However, instead of letting out a puff of smoke, instead acid poured out of her body in whatever way it could and she no longer had that disturbing, ethereal glow to her. Due to their actions and the way that they attacked, the woman was given the name Spitter, and the crazed man that rode me like a horse a Jockey."_

Todd shuddered at the descriptions of both special infected. It seemed that not only would he need to keep his eyes peeled, but also be sure to keep an ear out for whatever crazy things happened to be out there. "Shit... this stuff just keeps gettin' crazier each time I think I've read the worst of it..."

_"The last one we ran into... well, it was the last one for a reason, and only a day ago. I don't know how we didn't see one before, I guess I can count my blessings in a way. But this thing is the reason why there's only me left. The three of us were traveling during the night (less likely to be spotted, even if it did make it harder to see the zombies as well) when we heard the sound of a girl crying. Now, this is basically the zombie apocalypse at this point, and there was no way we were going to leave a girl out on her own. So we followed the crying, and it led us into an abandoned building. I wish we never stepped foot in that building, that we left that bitch right where she was. But we were kind, too kind, and wanted to help._

_"When we found her, we found nothing but a skinny woman dressed in barely anything, mostly just a bra and a pair of underwear. She must have been through some tough times, and was just barely surviving, we thought. Trisha called out to her, wanting to sound as gentle as possible, and shined a light to let her know not to be scared. Mistakes number one and two. The girl turned to look at us, eyes glowing red and face horribly gaunt, and began to growl. Her growls quickly became angrier as she slowly stood up, and that's when I saw them. Claws, horribly sharp, extremely bloody claws. This girl, this thing, had killed before, and multiple people judging by just how dark the blood was. By this point we were trying our hardest to back out of the room but it was too late. She raised her claws above her head, let out a piercing scream, and ran toward Trisha. We tried to run away, outrun her like the Tank, but she was too, too fast for someone so, so small. Within seconds she caught up to Trisha and struck out with her claws, and Trisha fell like a puppet whose strings were just cut. I thought the Hunter was deadly, but this thing was so much worse. The amount of blood Trisha lost was too much in too short of a time to be able to be saved and I watched in horror as the life left my girlfriend's eyes._

_"Johnny shot at this thing, mistake number three, bound to make this an eye for an eye situation. Angered and letting out cries of pain, she turned on him instead and brought him to the ground as quickly as she had Trisha, and continued to claw out his insides until he too, was dead. With the thing distracted, and without anything left to lose, I took Johnny's trusted fire axe and brought it down once, twice, three times on the infected before she dropped dead with a scream of pain. I added a fourth for good measure._

_"I wondered what those things do once they finish off every person in the group that they kill. Do they continue to run, looking for the next poor sap? Or do they just sit down right there and start crying again, like an angler fish waiting to draw in its next victim? I found an office building that still had working internet and tried to find any information on this thing. People call it a Witch (a fitting name for such a thing), and so long as you don't attack it, after it's finished killing off whomever it attacks, it runs away as if what little shred of humanity it might still have is horrified by what it just did._

_"I'm still in that office building, where I currently type this in some attempt to help anyone out there. It's getting harder to breath, so I'll give you some last bits of advice; listen for growling, keep your eyes up high if you hear coughing, if the ground shakes don't assume it's an earthquake, keep out of tight spaces and high locations with windows (both are a Charger's wet dream), look out for acid on the ground it can lead you to a glow-in-the dark bitch, keep an ear out for any manic giggling, and for god's sake, ignore the crying and turn off your damn lights if you hear it. -River"_

Todd sat back in his seat, quiet overwhelmed with everything he had just read. Most of it seemed absolutely ridiculous, but after what he had seen over the past couple hours, he could almost believe anything at this point. Just to be sure he tried a few other search results, all of which revealed that this River person was telling the truth. Apparently Tanks could knock whole walls down as well as pick up giant slabs of concrete to toss a person's way, something that he would keep in mind of. "Shit... the hell am I goin’ to do now?" He questioned, right as the phone reached 0% and immediately died. “...that’s not at all forbodin’.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it took some thinking for me to figure out just how Todd was going to learn about specials. Bill, Zoey, Francis, and Louis were already knee deep in the zombie apocalypse when specials started popping up, and I believe they learned their names at Mercy Hospital? It's been a while since I've played that campaign, and I couldn't find official information about it while skimming through the L4D wiki. Nick, Ellis, Rochelle, and Coach found out from Rochelle's experience as a journalist reporting on the Green Flu, as well as a few posters here and there with infected names. Since Todd is currently on his own, and is basically encountering the infection as it quickly spreads into his area, he had to use some sort of internal source from someone who's been dealing with these things for a while, thus finding River's article online.


	5. Roadtrip From Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually not a big fan of this chapter, to be honest. I had a few ideas, but I just couldn't really execute them all that well, and I'm pretty sure it shows. I honestly shouldn't have written this while I was hella tired, but it had been a while since I put up a chapter (compared to how often I was uploading before), and I didn't want to be on too much of a hiatus. It's not like I had the ability to get some sleep instead anyway, so I figured I would try my best. Definitely planning for next chapter to be better than... whatever this was.

Todd had sat in his truck for a good ten to fifteen minutes as he tried to figure out just what he was going to do at this point. Sure, he learned about these so called 'special infected', and he seemed to handle himself relatively well in terms of the regular infected that he had run into so far, but something told him that his trusty pipe wasn't going to help him as much as he would need for it to. Some part of him stupidly thought, 'too bad I don't have a gun permit', before he remember all of the shit that was currently happening as well as the fact that he had already killed seven people, even if those people were simply rabid infected at this point; breaking the law by carrying a gun without a permit was rather moot by now. 

However, unless he came across an abandoned gun store, he was a bit out of luck at this point. It was doubtful, if a person was in ownership of an entire shop full of guns and ammo, wouldn't be able to fight off any infected that came to the building, so an abandoned gun store would be hopelessly wishful thinking in the first place. As he pulled back onto the road Todd continued to think to himself and debate on just what he was going to do and where he was going to go at this point. 

His first goal, however, was to stop at the first town he came across and try to search for any sort of pharmacy or place that held first aid. He was half tempted to backtrack and go back to the store he had just visited, but the last thing he wanted to do was revisit that place and feel the same emotions he had experienced earlier. Plus, the possibility that an uninfected person may have come inside and saw the carnage that was left behind would try to find out just what the hell happened, and that was something he definitely didn't want to walk in on.

So he drove and drove, following the road wherever it went and tried to find any signs that would signify a town coming up somewhere up ahead. This little trip out of his town was starting to prove to him that he didn't get out much, or at least, didn't travel west all that often. West had seemed like the best option, since travelling east would only put him further into the heart of the zombie apocalypse, and Todd was starting to feel like that was something that he greatly wanted to avoid. Maybe if he got far enough and came to a town that wasn't yet having zombie issues, he could warn the people and get them to leave and get to safety.

Of course, this thought process was interrupted when he remembered that not even in the news of coming hurricanes or other natural disasters -- things that were easily proven -- a lot of people still didn't leave their homes and just wanted to stick to their guns. If he came running into town, covered in blood and spouting crazy words about zombies? Well, Todd would consider himself lucky if he wasn't immediately locked up. "Find civilization first, then worry about if people will think you're crazy or not." He told himself, remembering that he would need to take one step at a time. 

Ten minutes later with nothing but dead static to listen to, Todd finally came upon a small town. The fact that it seemed... empty just told him that this place had probably been hit too, showing just how scarily fast the infection was spreading through the population. His thoughts were confirmed when he saw a woman shambling about on the road ahead of him, pale and sickly looking with a tinge of red around her mouth. He almost honked his horn, just to see what her reaction might be, before he thought better of it. If this town was infected, the last thing he wanted to do was to bring a lot of attention to himself. 

Todd didn't even need the truck's horn, however, as just the sound of his vehicle coming toward her caused the woman to turn toward him and let out, he was assuming, some sort of scream, before she ran head-on toward the truck. Knowing it was pointless, that this was an infected being with no sense of who she was anymore, Todd didn't even slow down his vehicle and allowed it to hit her head on. She was carried a short distance, hanging onto the front of the truck, before she was eventually sucked under the vehicle and left behind in the dust; he didn't even spare her a second glance to see if she even got back up. Instead, he kept his eyes on the road and looked for any sign of a shop that had a possibility of having medical supplies. 

Despite the town seeming to be located in bumfuck Egypt, it somehow managed to have its own pharmacy (as if that even did anything for these people). Along the way he had seen a couple other infected, but they didn't bother Todd so he didn't go out of his way to run them over as well. He parked in the pharmacy's parking lot and grabbed a hold of his pipe, not wanting to be unarmed like he had been at the supermarket. Upon proceeding inside he was rather thankful, as, despite the small size, there were a few infected wandering about the small aisles of the pharmacy, almost as if they had come in for treatment but succumbed to the infection before anything could be done (if anything even could be done). 

Unfortunately, the door had one of those little ringing bells that signified when a person walked into the building, which signified his presence to the infected of the store, who ran toward Todd with a purpose to rip him apart or die trying. Todd's pipe made sure that it was the second option that happened. A few good cracks upside the heads of each of them and a few dodges later, and all that was left was blood, gore, and three immobile bodies crumpled among each other. 

Deciding to follow the example that he had been with the previous infected he had killed, Todd decided to go through whatever belongings were on each of the fallen infected, and when he saw just what the first one -- a man looking to have been in his mid fifties -- was carrying, Todd nearly cried out in joy. It may have only been a simple glock with the only ammunition it held being the four bullets that the man had placed into the gun, but it was more firepower than he had had just moments before. He took the gun, along with the holster the man had carried it in, and strapped it to himself to keep close in case something more unsavory than the normal infected happened upon him. 

Todd's luck seemed to have all been used up on the first body, though, as the other infected didn't have anything of value on them, not even any cash. "Everyone's carryin' card nowadays... I mean, I get it, but it still sucks ass for a zombie apocalypse." Some part of Todd reminded himself that it was doubtful that he would even need any sort of money in the first place if there was no-one to even receive the money as payment, but it was still a nice thing to have nonetheless. With bodies searched and no other infected found to be roaming the building after a quick scope through, Todd made his way for the first aid section and looked to see just what he may be able to take with him to help out on the journey.

There were already pre-packaged kits that had the standard supplies, but Todd knew he would need more than just whatever small amounts happened to be carried in them. Instead he picked up an empty container and began to fill it with any essentials he could think of, being sure to buy multiples of anything he might possibly need large amounts of, such as gauze, bandages, and antiseptic. Five minutes and two filled first aid cases later, Todd left the store and stepped back into the cab of his truck. He had considered looking to see if, for some strange reason, the pharmacy might have had a map, but after remembering that he was absolute shit at looking at maps in the first place, Todd decided against the idea and instead decided to stay with his original plan; he knew which direction west was, so he decided to stay with the plan of driving that way and seeing what he may or may not come across then go from there.


	6. The Runaway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently I just needed to get the last chapter out of my system and get some caffeine in me, because I'm a LOT more proud of this chapter and it came to me pretty quickly. Todd is mayor of Swearsville and plot progresses!  
> I, uh, don't really know how people deal with trauma, because my own experience is a lot different from what's going on here, so I'm sorry if it's not super realistic. I tried my best, though!

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. How in the hell this outbreak was hitting places so quickly in his state, when it took it three weeks to even reach the state was beyond Todd, but with each town he passed through that yielded nothing but infected individuals, the more he felt like he was the only living person on the planet at this point and his town just happened to win the lottery for 'last place hit with zombie flu'. He wasn't even seeing anything having to do with CEDA in any of the places that he had driven through, and he had been on the road for hours. 

It was 19:05 according to his truck's clock when he came across a larger town, possibly even a city, and the sky was only getting darker and darker. Taking a look at his fuel gauge Todd realized that his truck was near empty and he would need to pull over soon to fill it up with one of the gas cans he had filled, unless he managed to stumble across a gas station in this location instead. "Of course my stupid ass didn't even consider fillin' up in any of those other places... Then again, dunno how much of a hassle that might've been with the frickin' zombies wanderin' around and shit..." Todd muttered, smacking the palm of his hand against his head.

So far, there wasn't any sign of infected wandering the streets. At the same time, though, he wasn't seeing any regular people, either, so he wasn't about to get his hopes up. There were signs that CEDA had been there, though, wherever this place was; bothering to look at 'welcome to such-and-such town' signs wasn't really on the top of his to-do list. After a few more minutes of driving, Todd was starting to believe he may have to resort to using one of his gas cans that he had filled earlier when he noticed the outline of a Shell Station light just off in the distance. He let out a whoop of celebration and drove into the parking lot, which was almost completely deserted, minus a single car sitting in one of the parking spaces near the building. 

Pulling up next to one of the gas pumps and taking a look outside his window, Todd wasn't seeing anyone around nor didn't spy a person inside the building, but, on the off chance that this place wasn't yet hit hardcore by infection, he didn't chance stealing gas like he had back home and instead ran his card at the pump. He grimaced as he watched the numbers rise, wondering if he had enough money from his shit paycheck to make up the cost, but figured he probably wouldn't have to worry about it in the long run what with the shitstorm currently hitting the state. He found himself to be a little to distracted, though, as he didn't hear the footsteps running toward him until whatever it was was almost upon him. 

Todd immediately went to reach for the gun at his hip, feeling shitty having to waste a bullet on something a single smack with a pipe could handle had he been paying attention, when a small body ran right into him and he found himself looking down at a kid. This wasn't even an infected person, but a regular, healthy kid who was currently sobbing.

"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down, what's the hurry?" He asked the, what he now realized was a boy with a rather shaggy head of dark brown hair. The boy finally looked at the first person he had found after running for what like forever from his home and immediately recoiled. The man was almost terrifying looking, covered in blood and wearing a skull facemask, disheveled brown hair and piercings on what parts of his face was actually visible. Despite the scary appearance, though, the guy looked genuinely concerned and not like he was about to commit murder.

Seeing the boy recoil, Todd couldn't help but realize just how scary he may have looked to this kid, who couldn't have even been a teenager. The fact that the child was out of breath with eyes red from crying and tanned skin, tear stained cheeks showed that something had happened to traumatize him, and Todd's appearance certainly wasn't helping. Taking a chance, he pulled down his facemask to show a hesitant smile and raised his hands to show that he wasn't going to cause any harm, making sure to move slowly and not startle the kid any further. He was shit with kids to begin with, so the fact that the boy hadn't run away screaming was something at least. "I get it, I look pretty freaky. I got into a fight and had to keep myself safe. I'm not gonna hurt ya." Todd assured, trying to be soothing and calm the kid down enough to talk. 

"Did something happen? Were you attacked too?" Todd questioned as he looked around to see if he could spot any infected around. The gas pump shut off, letting out a loud noise that startled them both, but nothing further happened. "My... my dad..." 'Oh shit. Oh shit, his dad turned and tried to kill him...' Immediately ran through Todd's mind as the boy hiccuped and tried to speak. "Mom came home after her co-worker attacked her.... and... and she tried to take me 'n my sister outta the house..." The kid started sobbing again as he tried to tell his story to this weird stranger who was scary, so scary, but was trying to help. "I didn't see anything... my sister locked me in her room... but I... I heard dad hit mom... and they were screaming... And Ana pulled me out of her room... she... we tried to run away, but I didn't want to leave mom.. but Ana said we had to run.... Dad grabbed her though and pulled her back into the house..."

The kid started crying even more now, jumping when Todd placed his hands on his shoulders to try to ground him, but didn't pull away. "Ana told me to keep running and get help.. You've gotta save my sister!" He exclaimed, near hysterics at this point. 'Shit... shit, first zombie apocalypse, now kid rescue mission... fuck me...' There was no way Todd could tell the kid 'no' and just leave him there; his already mangled conscience was already eating at his ass and he wouldn't forgive himself for doing so. "Okay, okay... I'm not gonna tell ya to calm down, 'cause that ain't gonna do shit for ya. I, uh, know your parents told you to never get in a stranger's car or some shit, but, uh, it'll be easier to get to wherever you live if we drive there."

Apparently this kid was messed up in the head from trauma, because he didn't put up a fight and simply nodded at the idea. 'Jesus... this kid's a kidnapper's dream come true...' Todd thought to himself, now very concerned with everything that was going on. "Just get in the passenger seat, door's already unlocked. I'll put my shit in the back or somethin'." He directed as he pulled the nozzle of the gas pump from his truck and hopped into the cab of his truck. Before the kid even reached the passenger door Todd had moved his backpack and other supplies to the backseat as stated and closed his own door as the kid climbed into the passenger seat. "So, uh... I dunno where you live... So you're gonna have to tell me where to go, alright?" The kid only gave a small nod in response, seeming too drained to do much else. "And, uh... put your seat belt on, don't want anythin' happenin' to you or somethin'..." 

Todd stopped right at the end of the gas station's parking lot and waited for the kid to say where he needed to go, only to see him simply pointing toward the left. "I can't keep lookin' your way if I'm drivin' this thing, so you're gonna have to speak up." He stated, only to be met with a scoff from the kid. "Turn left here, and three streets down take another left." Was the kid's only response afterward.

They drove in silence, Todd following the directions, before it got to be a bit too much for him. "So, you gotta name?" He asked, before figuring if he gave his the kid would be more likely to give an actual answer. "I'm Todd."

"Kobe. Take a right up ahead." The kid, no, Kobe, said as he nodded at the next coming street. How far had this kid run? How long had he been running for? If his mom really did get attacked, then there had to be infected wandering around somewhere, making it a near miracle that Kobe even reached Todd in the first place without getting munched on the way there. Todd was kicked out of his thoughts when Kobe yelled, "Here!", and Todd nearly slammed on his breaks when he realized the kid was starting to try to get out of the car while it was still in motion. "Shit! Wait for me to stop, dammit!" Todd regretted his words when he saw Kobe visibly flinch, and remembered that one of the last things he heard was his own father shouting at his mother. "Sorry.. you just. I don't want you gettin' hurt. Didn't mean to scare ya."

"I have to make sure my sister's okay. I'm sorry." Todd found that response reasonable, even if the kid was still reckless as hell for nearly jumping out of a moving truck. He reached to the back of the vehicle to grab his pipe and saw the kid's eyes widen in fear at the sight of the thing, eyes zeroing in on the blood that coated a fair portion of it. "This isn't for you." Todd assured. "If your piece of shit father's in there and has your sister, have to make sure he doesn't do anythin' to you too. I want to keep you safe." Something in Todd's tone must have conveyed to Kobe that he really did just want to protect the kid, as Kobe gave a small nod in response before hopping out of the cab of the truck. Todd quickly followed after, not wanting the kid to get too far ahead of him.

When they reached the door Todd actually stopped Kobe and pulled himself in front of the kid; if something bad was on the other side of the door, it would have to go through him first. He was surprised to find the door unlocked, and it easily swung open, though what was inside only further shocked him. Furniture was smashed to pieces and scattered across the room as if they were simply toys tossed around by a toddler, a giant, GIANT hole was smashed through one of the walls, and Todd could see an even bigger hole through the first one that led outside. The front of the house had looked completely normal so this had thrown him for a loop. "Ana!" Kobe yelled as he pushed past Todd and into the room that had been smashed into. "Kid, wait!" Todd yelled, eyes frantically darting around the room for any sign of danger. "That's Ana's room! That's my sister's room!" Kobe was in hysterics once more, panicked to find his sister's room in utter shambles. 

"I get it! You're scared! But what was here was even scarier!" The articles online that Todd had read immediately flooded back to his mind. Of all things, of all goddamned things, the first special infected he would be running into was a Tank? How long ago had it been here? Was the thing still around? Todd stopped moving, trying to see if he could feel the ground shaking or any sign that the monstrosity was still around, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. "Kobe, we need to get outta here. Somethin' bad came through here, and it may still be around somewhere. I can handle some normal-ish shit with this thing, but if a Tank comes through here, we're fucked."

Finally Todd managed to catch the boy's attention, and Kobe stopped rummaging through the rubble that was once his sister's room to look toward Todd. "Tank? You mean, like a military tank?" Todd almost laughed at the question, now near hysterics as well. He hadn't even run into one, and was already feeling like he was getting some sort of PTSD at just the thought of one of those things finding them. "No, we're talkin' giant, zombie shit. This isn't some military thing, we're talkin' monsters, things that can send cars into the air and do damage like this!" He motioned toward the missing walls, hoping to get the kid to see reason. Instead, Kobe, looked at him like he had grown another head. "Zombies? Are you crazy?" Kobe was now starting to doubt this man, and wondered if he should have looked for the next person to help him. 

"CEDA lies through their fuckin' teeth. Green Flu wasn't some damn flu. You said your mom got attacked by someone who was sick? Yeah, that shit turns people rabid, basically like zombies. Trust me, I've already fought several of 'em by now. That's where all this blood's from, that's why I'm carryin' this thing." He said waiving his pipe in the air. "And there's not just regular zombies. There's these... special infected people are callin' em. Have fuckin' weird abilities 'n shit, and the Tank's about the top of the list of worst ones to run into." Todd let out a sigh, not wanting to break bad news to the kid, but feeling like this entire thing was a lost cause, that the two should just pack up and go. "I'm sorry, but, if your sister was here when that thing came through... if she was in that room... She ain't around anymore..." 

"You're lying!" All of the sadness and panic was replaced by anger as Kobe ran at Todd and nearly tackled him to the ground, beating on his chest with his tiny fists. "You're lying! Ana's fine! She's fine!"

"I'm sorry! But I'm givin' you the most logical answer! I don't know shit about what the fuck's goin' on, only what I've seen so far! Kid... kid, I'm not tryin' to break your heart like some shitty person... I'm bad with kids, bad with bad news... but I don't know what else to tell ya..." Todd finished, speaking quietly yet loud enough for Kobe to hear him over his outburst and allowing the kid to let out his anger, even if the beating did hurt his chest a little. As quickly as the fire lit up, it died down just as fast and Kobe was just left with pressing his head against Todd and letting out small hiccups again. "You're lying..."

Todd let out a sigh and placed his free hand on the kid's head, trying to show just how messed up he was as well with everything going on. "I'm sorry..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning on having another chapter up by tomorrow (3/31 because time is wonky af), since I've finally reached the part I was really waiting for. It may be the last one for this particular story? It may not? I'm actually not sure how far I'm going with this.  
> I'm pretty sure this won't be the main, main story for the series though, so I feel like there's only a little further left to go.


	7. Promises Made and Abandoned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I realized how dumb my earlier note at the end of last chapter was (mentioning dates and shniz), but it was mostly for myself. I write most of my stuff at work during third shift, so days and times feel super weird for me.  
> Anyway, further plot ensues and we're getting close to the end of Suriving! After this story is over, I may have more time between chapters, because it's super up in the air for me just what direction I'll be going with this as well as how long it's going to go on for, but I'm hoping for the best.

Todd and Kobe stood there like that for some time, Todd waiting for the boy to calm down while also trying to keep an ear out for anything that could possibly cause either of them harm and paying attention to any sign of the ground making movements that it shouldn't. Eventually the boy's hicups settled down and he pulled away, still looking at the ground, while Todd stood there awkwardly in silence.

"You... you should probably get some of your stuff together." At the questioning glance he got from the kid, Todd clarified. "A lot of bad shit's happenin' and, as shit as I am with kids, I'd feel even shittier if I just left you to fend for yourself durin' all of this. I don't really have a goal in mind for where I'm goin', but if you're willin' to come with me, I'll do my best to keep you safe." Kobe continued to give him a blank look before letting out a short laugh. "You're weird. I still think you're crazy... but Ana did say there was some bad stuff going on and I guess this may be it." At the mention of his sister the boy's shoulders slumped a little, but he forced himself to not break down again, something Todd was actually proud of him for.

"So... is that a 'yes'?" He asked, only to be met with a nod that started out hesitant, but became more determined. "Alright, then get some of your stuff together. Not a lot though, because there's no tellin' what's gonna happen. And no toys! I get... maybe somethin' that means somethin' to ya? But if you take a game console or some shit with you, I'm leavin' ya behind." It wasn't until he watched the boy run off into one of the other rooms that he considered that he hadn't even thought of searching the area to see if any dangers were nearby. After all, there was a giant hole in the wall that something could have wandered through. "Call out if you need anythin'! I'm gonna make sure there's nothin' else in here that may causes issues, okay?"

When Todd heard a muffled "Okay!" response from the boy, he took that as his invitation to scope out the rest of the house, going the opposite direction that Kobe went in to find himself walking into, what he assumed to be the kitchen. Nothing seemed to be out of place or out of the ordinary until he stepped further into the room; that's when he noticed the pair of legs on the floor that were peaking out just from behind the other side of the wall. "Oh fuck..." Todd remembered Kobe saying how his father did something to his mom and was a little worried about what he would find. He approached the body slowly and let out a sigh when he saw a woman, probably in her mid forties, laying dead on the ground. She had bite and scratch wounds in various places, but it looked like the cause of death was from the slight bruising around her neck. He originally hoped that it was out self defense, but the woman's face showed her final moments to be those of shock instead of crazed rage like the other infected that Todd had taken out. 

"Hey Todd?" Todd was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard Kobe's voice, and raced back to the room's doorway to keep the kid from walking in and seeing what was on the ground. He managed to meet him at the door and gave the kid a forced smile, which only caused Kobe to give him an odd look. "You finished? Got everythin'?" He asked as he tried to coax him away from the kitchen, which happened to be a mistake as it keyed Kobe in that Todd was trying to hide something. "What's going on? Why are you acting even weirder than normal?" Kobe asked as he tried to peer around the older man. "Kid. Stop." 

Something in Todd's tone must have gotten to him, as Kobe did indeed stop trying to get any sort of glance into the kitchen and instead focused on Todd. "What's going on? What's in there?" Panic started to creep into his voice at the look on Todd's face. "Is my sister in there? Is she okay?!"

"Kid. Please. You're... you're probably gonna see some messed up stuff durin' this whole thing. And I don't want that to start now. Unless you and your sister have a giant age gap," Kobe hesitantly shook his head no at that, "Then that isn't your sister."

"...Mom?" Todd's face tightened, having a guess that the woman in the kitchen would have been the kid's mom. "I, uh... doubt it. She looks nothin' like you." For some reason, that only caused Kobe's eyes to tear up more. "That's 'cause they adopted me, so of course I don't look like them! Did... did dad do something to her?" Todd didn't know what to say or how to even answer him, but his silence was answer enough. Apparently Kobe had already resigned that something had happened before his sister had even grabbed him from her room, because he didn't have any sort of outburst like he had when they first came into the house. "I thought so... Thanks... for not wanting me to see anything..."

Todd was surprised with this information as well as the kid's lack of reaction. Surely he was upset about this whole ordeal? Apparently his confusion was evident on his face, as Kobe only gave a hollow laugh. "Dad can be an angry person sometimes, even if he acts like a great person. Ana saw everything happen, and I could tell it was bad when I looked at her when she had me run away. So I figured he did something." He reasoned with a shrug, causing Todd to feel even worse for the kid. "So, if I see your dickbag father, and I punch him, you won't be upset with me, will ya?" The laugh that Kobe let out made Todd smile, happy that the kid could even still be happy. "Go ahead, I'll help!"

"So, what were you callin' me for in the first place?" Todd asked as he put a hand around Kobe's shoulders to lead them away from the kitchen and back into the house; sure, Kobe didn't seem like he was going to go see what was in the kitchen, but Todd wanted to make sure it didn't happen anyway. "I... I wanted to check Ana's room.. one last time." At the look he was given, Kobe elaborated further. "I just wanna see if I can find anything. Plus, she liked to take pictures. So I wanted to find some pictures." Todd let out a sigh, not wanting to ruin things for the kid further, and gave him the go ahead. "Sure. I'll keep an eye out for you." He said as he followed Kobe into the destroyed room. "We have to make it quick, though. The ground hasn't started shaking or anything, but I still don't want to chance being here if the Tank comes back."

By this point Kobe was already digging through what he could, trying to find his sister's cork board where she had pinned several pictures that she had taken over time. Eventually he managed to find it under several pieces of plaster and wood, relieved to see that a few of the photos had survived the damage. He plucked a candid picture that his sister had taken of their mother, busy in the kitchen and caught off guard by the flash. It was a little silly looking, but the memory of the two of them laughing at the outcome made him want to keep it. He also fished out a picture of himself, Anabelle, and Malcom all huddled together. This one was one that Malcom's mother had taken; originally Mal was flexing, trying to look tough, only to have Anabelle jump up and hug him from behind, followed by Kobe doing the same. Ms. Bell had managed to take a picture right before the three had toppled to the ground, and another of the three of them in a heap, laughing the shenanigans. The second picture had been ripped, but the first was still salvageable and was the one that Kobe grabbed a hold of.

"Hey, kid?" Todd called over, having been standing by the hole in the wall that led outside. He had wanted to give Kobe the privacy he needed and had instead been looking around for anything that might help out. That was when he saw the footprints that were just barely visible in the grass, along with larger indentations following after them. "Did your sister have a window in her room?" He asked. "Yeah? Why?" 

"I think she may have gotten out before the Tank came through." Todd didn't want to get the kid's hopes up, he really didn't, but he wasn't about to omit this information from him either. Sure, this could end in disaster and further issues for the kid, but if Kobe found out that Todd knew this and didn't tell him, things would definitely get ugly between them. Immediately Kobe ran over to where Todd was standing, clutching the two pictures close, to see what Todd had caught sight of, and a glint of hope appeared in his eyes. "Ana!"

"Shhh! I get it, you're excited... but we've gotta keep it down." Todd hushed, his eyes frantic. "What I don't get, though... where does the Tank fit into this?" At Kobe's confused expression, Todd elaborated. "Okay, so I've never seen a Tank before, and I never want to if I'm bein' honest. But I read that they're apparentlly really fuckin' huge. I thought it might've come through this wall and into the house or somethin', but if your sister got outta here through the window and everythin' got smashed afterward...." By now Todd was starting to put two-and-two together, and his eyes widened in fear. "Holy... oh fuck me..."

"What? What?!" Apparently whatever Todd was thinking was far from Kobe's mind, as he was still lost and wasn't understanding the look of horror on Todd's face. "Was your dad attacked by anythin' infected, do you know? How long ago did you leave the house?" 

Kobe looked at the wall clock that was, miraculously, on one of the walls that hadn't been demolished. "I think mom scratched and bit him... and I dunno... maybe three hours ago?" He wasn't sure of the exact time he ran away, only that he had been running for a while, plus the fact that they had been in the house for some time as well. "Fuck.... does the shit work that quickly? Fuck me.... Shit... shit..." 

"What?! Why are you freaking out?"

"I... I think I have to take back my offer to punch your shit dad." Kobe still looked confused and Todd let out a sigh when he realized this kid probably wasn't going to figure this out on on his own. "I'm pretty sure your dad got infected, and somehow, turned into a fuckin' Tank while you were gone... Because I doubt the thing broke into your house for no reason, and then turned around and left the same way it came in through." There was silence as the kid processed the information, stunned realization dawning on his face, before he let out a simple, "...Oh."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kobe is adopted! Because I didn't want to cause even more angst with the KID of all things getting infected and stuff. Since the immunity is passed down through the father, and Nathan obviously wasn't immune (thus leading to Mal and Anabelle's issues), it would have seemed that Kobe was in that same boat. But due to him being adopted he doesn't share the same problem as his siblings did. Yay! Finally something positive!


	8. Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a bit of planning and some reconsidering of ideas. I feel like I messed up in a few places with reactions and stuff, but I'm relatively happy with the final product. I had about half of this written out several days ago and was only just now able to finish it up.

Todd had yet to pull his facemask back up and was currently chewing on his thumbnail, a nervous habit he thought he had gotten rid of. Sure, he may have jumped to conclusions and there was a possibility that none of what he said was actually what happened, but the simple idea that it might have been the case was throwing his panic into overdrive and he needed some kind of distraction. He was close to losing his goddamn mind to panic and the fact that Kobe had yet to say anything else was only making it worse. "Please don't have us chase after these footprints... I get it... she's your sister... but holy fuck if what I said was the case we'd also be chasing a fuckin' Tank..."

"You know, you seemed like a big, scary tough guy when I first saw you." Kobe said, his face scrunching up as he judged the older man. "But now I don't think you're that big of a deal." Todd let out a strangled noise of frustration at Kobe's words and he stared at the kid, completely stunned. "I've read about these fuckin' things! I don't know how fuckin' cushy it is in this place, but goddamn, things are terrifyin' out there right now! I have five bullets to my name in a tiny ass pistol, and a pipe from my fuckin' bathroom! Tanks are called that for a reason." He said, trying to get through to the kid. "How old even are you?"

"Twelve. Why does that matter?" That explained it. That explained a lot. This was a kid high on life that had yet to see real horrors in the world. Sure, his dad was a piece of shit, but sometimes that doesn't bring a person down. Todd could remember when he was that carefree at that age and Kobe's attitude now made a lot of sense. "Kid.."

"I'm not a kid."

 **"Kid.** There's a lot of bad shit in the world. Especially right now. You've yet to see any of the bad shit that's really been goin' on right now, and I'm actually glad to hear that. But that also causes the issue that you don't know what the fuck's goin' on out there and to be scared of it. Were you ever... I dunno, scared of a monster under your bed? Or in the closet?" Kobe shook his head 'no' in response to both questions. "So you're one of those kids... Well, good for you, bad for me. Either way, we are not followin' those footprints."

"But Ana-"

"No. I'm sorry, I'm bein' a piece of shit person right now, but I want to stay alive. I wanna keep you alive too. But if you go runnin' after those footprints, which I can't even see goin' very far if I'm bein' honest, you're gonna get killed out there." Kobe was silent for a moment, and Todd was sure that the kid was about to make a break for it anyway, before a determined look crossed his face. "What if you got a bigger gun?" That question caught him off guard and Todd gave the kid a questioning look. "Excuse me?"

"One of your issues is that you have a small gun." Todd made a small noise of denial until he remembered that this was a kid he was talking to and there weren't certain things being insinuated. "If you had a bigger gun, would you go out there with me to find my sister?" When Todd didn't answer, Kobe pressed further. "Dad has a shotgun in the house from when he used to go hunting a long time ago. I know where it is." He took off out of the room and Todd had to quickly follow after him. To the older man's relief, Kobe went in the opposite direction of the kitchen, down a hallway, and into what Todd assumed to be the master bedroom. "Your dad. Kept a shotgun. In the fuckin' bedroom."

"I mean, yeah?" Shit, this kid was way too innocent for his own good. Todd was starting to feel more and more like he was in over his head with looking after this kid, especially when Kobe simply opened the closet door, rummaged around for a moment or two, and procured a shotgun that had been hiding behind a couple boxed. "Holy shit, how are you not dead?!" Kobe's only answer was giving Todd yet another weird look, not seeing what the big deal was. "I hate that I'm askin' a kid this... of all fuckin' things... but do you know where the ammo is as well?" Todd let out another sound of distress when the kid jumped right back into the closet and pulled out a large, hinged box that let out a loud rattling noise as it was moved about and passed over to Todd along with the gun. 

"Plus, there's a gun store in town too!" Todd knew the kid was just trying to be helpful and try to get him to look for his sister, but dammit, this was a little too much. "Kid, we're not goin' to a gun store." 'Not yet, at least.' "So is the shotgun enough for you?" Kobe asked with a bit too much hope in his voice. The last thing Todd wanted was to see the spark in the kid's eyes die again with him being the cause of it so, with self preservation being thrown out the window, Todd only gave a small grumble. "... I'll get my fuckin' backpack..." At Kobe's confused expression, Todd elaborated further. "It's where I have supplies and shit, in case somethin' happens. Y'know, like what you have." He said as he motioned toward the bag Kobe had strapped over his shoulder, most likely used for school. 

"I feel like I need to check that, though. Because, I get wanting to hold onto things, especially if we're not comin' back, but if we need to start walkin', it's better not to have extra, unneeded weight." Kobe hesitated for a moment before he pulled the bag off of his shoulder and deposited it on the floor. When Todd unzipped the bag, he was surprised to see that most of the contents weren't anything too ridiculous, considering this was a twelve-year-old kid he was dealing with. He had even listened and didn't pack away some sort of game to play. After rummaging through the contents and not finding anything that would need to be left behind, Todd zipped the bag back up and passed it back to Kobe, who slung it back over his shoulder.

Todd began to walk out of the room and toward the front door, but paused when he remembered River's information on the Tank. "Hey Kobe? Did either of your parents drink?" 

"Why? You some sort of alcoholic?" Kobe asked with a rather judgmental tone to his voice. "What? No! Jesus kid, the fuck... Just answer the question." 

"Not really, dad didn't drink and wasn't a fan of mom doing so either, so there's nothing in the house. If you're not an alcoholic, why did you ask?" Kobe pried as they left the house. "Because I could have used something like that as a weapon." Todd answered while he placed the shotgun and ammo on the floorboard of his truck and slung his new backpack over his shoulder. "I've got a lighter, just needed some cloth and some bottles of alcohol to make a nice fire bomb." He further elaborated while stuffing as many of the shotgun shells into the pockets of his cargo pants and stashing the remaining ones that didn't fit back into the case after loading the shotgun. 

"You said your dad used to huntin', yeah?" Todd asked as he turned toward Kobe. "Yeah, but it was a long time ago."

"So, it's very unlikely that you even know how to shoot a gun then?" He asked, and was surprised that Kobe answered with, "I do, actually!" Though he paused and thought for a moment or two. "Well, I know how to shoot a paintball gun, so I guess it's not really the same thing..."

"Not really, otherwise I'd have you carry the pistol so at least both of us were armed." Todd said with a sigh as he led the two of them back toward the house, however, instead of stepping inside Todd simply went around to the back where the damage from the Tank was present. "I guess you'll just have to use this then. Don't break it, though, it's gotten me through a lot." Though he doubted Kobe even could damage the pipe too badly as he handed the weapon over to the kid, he still wanted to put the statement out there. "But don't go charging into a fight or somethin' with that. Only use it if you have to, alright?" He gave the kid a look and was met with a nod of obedience. 

"Good. How'd a kid like you even go paintballin', anyway?" He questioned, trying to make conversation with the kid while he looked over the tracks that had been left on the ground; apparently it had rained recently and made the ground softer, probably the only reason there was even visible enough footprints in the first place. "My brother and his friends took Ana and I!" That caught Todd off guard and he straightened up. Kobe had spoken plenty about his sister, but hadn't mentioned a brother yet. "Wait, brother? Where's he at?" Todd asked as he looked back to Kobe, who suddenly seemed a bit more somber again. "I dunno... He went to see some of his friends last night... his mom called this morning and said he never came home, though." 

"Shit... I'm surprised that you're not havin' me track him down too." Todd thought aloud. "That's because I don't even know where he was at. It was some kinda club, Northern something, but I don't know where it's at. Plus it's been a while." Kobe replied before shaking his head, not wanting to get back into the depressed mood that he had been in earlier. Realizing that the kid was trying to not focus on the negative, Todd took the hint and dropped the subject. He was actually thankful that he wasn't going to have to look for two kids at this point. "One of those pictures that you grabbed, any of them have your sister? I wanna know who I'm lookin' for."

Kobe brightened up at the feeling that Todd was taking this search for his sister seriously and fished one of the pictures he had grabbed from Anabelle's room from his backpack, carefully handing it over to Todd. "...Gotcha. Thanks. I take it the blowhard on the bottom is your brother?"

"Yeah, that's Mal. Malcom, Anabelle, and me. Mal's mom took the picture for us." Kobe confirmed as he took the picture back and stored it away once more. "Alright," Todd began, standing up, "We're gonna follow these tracks as far as we can. Unfortunately, that's the most we can do since I dunno where your sister'd even go." 

"If the Tank thing was following her, though, can't we follow these," Kobe toed the large indentations most likely left by the tank, "if we can't see Ana's?" There was that weird, distressed noise again as Todd gave Kobe a disbelieving look. "Do you not listen? If we follow where the Tank went, we're then bound to run into a fuckin' Tank! Then we're dead!"

"But you have a bigger gun?" Kobe questioned, pointing toward the shotgun and giving Todd a look that said, 'what's the big deal?'. "Yeah, I may have a shotgun now, but that doesn't mean that it's gonna do shit to a Tank if we run into one. What you're wantin' to do is the exact opposite of what we need to do. We're gonna get killed if we follow that mindset." 

"Well, if you won't follow them, I will! I'm finding my sister!" Before Todd could do anything, Kobe took off running, following the footprints that were left behind by his sister and leaving Todd behind. "Fuckin' shit! Kid! Stop!" Todd slammed a hand over his own mouth after realizing just how loud he had yelled, not sure if that would possibly alert any nearby infected and cause more issues for them. He was especially frustrated when he realized that it didn't even cause the kid to actually stop. "God dammit... Life's pissin' on me again! The hell did I do to deserve this..." 

Todd ran after Kobe, thankful that he was just a kid and wasn't able to run nearly as far in as much time as Todd could, but the little brat was still a good several dozen meters away from him at this point. "Stop runnin', dammit!" Todd had almost caught up with Kobe when he felt something wrap around his middle and pull, hard, yanking the man off of his feet and roughly dragging him away from Kobe. "Kid! Kobe!" Todd managed to cry out, despite the pain that flared up in his chest from how hard it was being constricted. "Help! I'm bein' grabbed!" Just when he was sure that Kobe was going to ignore him once again and just keep running, Todd was surprised that the kid actually did turn around.

Shock came to Kobe's face when he turned to look at Todd, only to see him getting dragged in the opposite direction by some sort of tentacle thing and toward a large figure that was just barely visible around the side of one of the houses that they had passed. "Let him go!" Kobe yelled out as he charged toward Todd. He wanted to go after the thing that had grabbed the man, but part of him wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle himself against whatever it was, plus it was easier to reach Todd than it was the, he was assuming, infected. 

Before Kobe was able to reach Todd, though, whatever it was released it's hold on the older man after Kobe had yelled out and started to stagger away. Todd was left coughing and trying to get his breath back when the kid got to him, rubbing his sides where he had been grabbed. "The hell did it let me go.... River didn't say anythin' about this.."

"Do you know what that was?" Kobe asked as he carefully approached the older man, not sure of what to do to help out. "That, I'm guessin', was a Smoker. I was too busy runnin' after your ass that I didn't hear the thing coughin'." Despite his relief that he hadn't had his ribs crushed in from the toungue, Todd found himself fuming with Kobe for the trouble that the kid had caused. "Told myself I would keep an ear out for that kinda shit, but when you go runnin' off, I kinda can't!" The outburst caused Kobe to curl in on himself, scared that Todd might take his anger out on him. 

Upon seeing the effect that he had on the kid, Todd reminded himself to simmer down and not let himself get too frustrated; this was just a kid who was worried about his older sister and who hadn't fully experienced how shitty things were. It was understandable for him to react irrationally. "I'm... look, I'm sorry. It's just, there's a lotta shit goin' on right now, and I don't want either of us to get fucked up by it." Todd tried. "But right now, we need to deviate and go after that thing."

"Why?! It tried to hurt you! It did hurt you..." Now Kobe was feeling even worse; not because he had been yelled at, but because his actions had caused Todd to be injured. "And it's because it hurt me that I've gotta go after it to make sure it doesn't hurt anyone else. Stay with me in case it goes after one of us again, alright? It's best to stay together. And... I'm sorry for yellin' at ya." Kobe gave Todd a lopsided smile, silently showing that he didn't hold it against the older man for getting worked up. "Did you see what direction it went? It's best to go after it now before it gets away." 

Kobe pointed toward the house he had seen the Smoker disappear around, and Todd gave him a nod, before taking off in that direction with Kobe following right behind. Upon reaching the house Todd was able to see the lingering smoke that River had mentioned and could make out a faint coughing sound from further up ahead. "It went this way! Follow the smoke and coughing noise." The duo did just that, weaving between houses and eventually reaching a stop when Todd saw the retreating backside of the infected. "Hey, asshole!" Todd called out as he raised his shotgun to take aim, delighted when the tall figured stopped and turned toward them. 

Bound to get a shot in before it could try to grab either of them Todd took aim, but quickly found himself being pushed to the ground by Kobe. "Kid! What the fuck?!" He yelled as he glared at the pre-teen, only to find Kobe looking back at him with panicked tears in his eyes. "No! Don't!" Kobe cried out, crying even harder. "Why the fuck not? It's gonna attack us if we don't get it first!"

"The picture! Remember the picture?" 

"What fuckin'-" Todd caught himself off as he looked at the Smoker once more which was slowly stepping, not toward them, but away from them and unintentionally into the glow of the streetlight hanging above the sidewalk. The face of the infected was covered in swollen growths on the left side and it had a sickly grey color to its skin, but Todd was able to put two and two together from what he could make out of the thing's appearance as well as the picture Kobe had shown to him just minutes earlier. "That's my brother! That's my big brother!" Kobe was in full on sobs now, having realized that yet another piece of his family was gone. "Don't shoot my brother..."

Even if Todd wanted to shoot the infected, Kobe was still on top of him and making it difficult to move without shoving the kid off. "Kid... he's infected, he's gone... And he'll hurt a lot of people." 

"I don't care! I just..." Hiccups replaced words at this point and Todd wasn't able to make out any other words from the muttering that Kobe was making between sobs. At this point the Smoker was walking away from them, not seeming to make any move to attack, only to get away. Maybe some kind of deep-lying self preservation? Todd wasn't sure what to make of things anymore. "I can't aim well anyway." Todd conceded, an excuse to break down to the kid's pleas. "Can't even see where he's going either." A lie, Todd could easily see just where the Smoker was turning to get out of sight and he could have easily tracked him back down using the same method they had just moments ago.

His false claims seemed to calm Kobe down, as the boy crawled off of Todd and allowed the older man to sit back up. "I'm sorry... I really am..." Kobe apologized, not making any eye contact. "Did I hurt you?"

"Not anymore than I already was." Todd replied as he held his side. At the guilty look on the kid's face Todd assured, "You didn't hurt me, kid. I'm fine, just a little sore." Kobe seemed to be calming down a little, but was still greatly upset, something Todd really couldn't blame him for. An idea came to Todd's mind as he pulled off his backpack. "Hey, do you like Twix?" Kobe simply blinked in confusion, causing Todd to shake his head as he pulled one of the candy bars he had grabbed from the supermarket out of the backpack. "I figure you need this more than I do, and I just wanted to make sure I wasn't giving you your worst enemy in candy bar form."

Kobe watched as Todd held the candy bar out for him, and the kid hesitantly took it. "I like Twix. Snickers are better, though." The pre-teen smiled at the offended face that Todd made. "Excuse me? I'll have you know, Twix is the far superior Mars bar. You just don't have refined enough tastes yet, brat."

"Sure thing, weirdo. Keep telling yourself that." Kobe pulled one of the chocolate covered cookies from the packaging and slowly chewed on it while he tried to process everything that had just unfolded. "Thanks. For not shooting Mal..." Todd looked in the direction that he had last seen the Smoker, now finding no sign of the infected that had once been Kobe's brother. "You're welcome. But next time we see him, if we do see him, we can't be takin' another chance like that. We've gotta survive out here, even if that means makin' some hard choices." 

"Yeah... I know. But still, thank you." They sat in silence like that, Todd keeping an eye out and Kobe eating his candy bar. It wasn't until Kobe finished the second cookie and crumpled the wrapper up into a small ball that he spoke again. "Do you think Ana's still alive?" Kobe glared at the tight grimace on Todd's face as the older man stayed silence. "Just tell me the truth, Todd. You always say whatever you're thinkin' anyway." Kobe stated, imitating the infliction Todd's voice had at the last part of his sentence.

"You want honesty, I'll be honest. Unless she managed to get away and hide, I don't think she is. Your sister had a Tank chasin' after her, and she was probably without anythin' to defend herself. And if she is alive... she may not be your sister anymore."

"You mean, she'd be infected." It wasn't a question, Kobe had connected the dots. Todd confirmed Kobe's words with a silent nod. "You still wantin' to look for her, knowin' this?" Todd hoped the kid would say 'no', that he would spare himself the heartache and pain that could come from possibly finding his own sister as a mindless, infected zombie. Todd felt a knot in his stomach when he saw the kid's steely resolve, even with his face stained with tears. "I gotta know what happened to her."

"You know what I'm gonna have to do if we do find her and she's..." Todd could bring himself to say the word. Two hours ago he would have just blown through it all and wouldn't have beaten around the bush, but something about this kid was making him step lightly around the subject. Kobe had already been greatly hurt emotionally by this, and Todd didn't want to cause more pain for the kid if he could help it. "I know. And I guess it's better if you did. She wouldn't want to hurt other people if something happened to her. And I know Mal wouldn't either. I'm sorry I stopped you from shooting."

Kobe jumped when Todd placed a hand on his head, ruffling the kid's hair into a mess. "I get it, you didn't want some scary creep hurtin' your big brother."

"You're not a scary creep. Just a kinda scary weirdo." Kobe said as he batted Todd's hand away, glaring at the older man simply chuckled. "Sure, a kinda scary weirdo. Whatever you say, kid." Kobe watched as Todd slung the backpack over his shoulders as he stood up, then offered a hand for the kid to take. "C'mon. Let's go find your sister."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is Surviving finished! Next fic we're gonna smoosh all of these losers together and have a grand old time of angst, feels, and all that fun stuff! Updates may be a lot farther between than they were for Infected and Surviving, because I have a lot of planning to do and trying to find out just how I want things to go so I don't potentially write myself into a cringey corner, but I should be able to do some writing at least once or twice a week so I have that going for me!


End file.
